


Oy, Spaceman!

by Rae_Saxon



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: And so did Ten, Because I needed closure, Gen, Post Journey's End
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2020-09-18 14:11:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20313637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rae_Saxon/pseuds/Rae_Saxon
Summary: The tenth Doctor is lonely, Donna is sassy even when she doesn't remember him and there's a meteor threatening to crash onto Earth. Tadaaaah!





	Oy, Spaceman!

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a translation of a fanfic, I have written... I don't know? 2013? It's not my best work, but I'm working on translating all my old stuff, so you're gonna have to live with it now.

A little sigh fell from his lips, as he was standing on the lake shore, watching the sinking of the two suns.

Gradually, they dove the planet into a fiery red, while the rippling water was threatening to swallow them whole.

The Doctor waited. It was as if an invisible power held him back, tied him to the reed bank, while the two sinking suns gifted him their last light.

His coat was waving in the wind and he knew, it was only going to get colder. But he needed the closure. A full, clean closure.

Again, the Time Lord sighed, pulling the coat tighter around himself, shivering. Still, he knew it wasn't the cold that made him freeze like this.

It was a cold that came from inside out, a loneliness he only noticed when he let himself sink into it. But today, he didn't seem to have a choice.

The planet Hera lay calm, no war, no conflicts, no problems he had to solve. It was, was if his TARDIS had intentionally brought him to a space that didn't need any of his efforts. But the Doctor craved the distraction of an invasion far more than he was willing to admit, needed the fight against various alien races, welcomed something to focus his restless thoughts on.

The sun's were reflected on the water, the wind kept blowing stronger, but still the Doctor couldn't tear himself from the picture in front of him.

It was so peaceful... Oh, his friends. If only they could see what he saw right now. They had run with him, had seen the war and the blood and the death and the stars. Never had they had time to stop. To just look up at the sky and watch the suns sinking.

With a shake of his head, he finally averted his gaze. He needed to face the truth – This planet reminded him of Gallifrey.

But Gallifrey was gone.

Gone, like Rose was, with his meta crisis on a beach somewhere, kissing and laughing and happy. Probably.

Gone like Martha was, whose life he had almost destroyed. Who had jumped off the sinking ship in the last second, to start a better, fuller life.

Gone like Jack, who had his Torchwood team, doomed to suffer through the same fate, the same losses, the same loneliness the Doctor had to, on his own, alone.

Gone like the Master, who had rather died than stay with him for one second longer.

And gone like Donna.

Donna, the most important person in the whole universe.

His shoulders sunken, the Doctor turned around and started walking back to the TARDIS in tiny steps. Behind him, the once glaring suns had lost their light, and the water beneath them had now turned into a vastness of black.

A temp. The Doctor smirked, as he stepped back into his good old TARDIS. Again and again she had said so, called herself nothing but a little temp, just a human. Just a temp...

Everything she had done. Everything she had seen. The world, no the whole universe she had saved – And he had to take it all away from her.

Everything he could've left her were remains of a woman who felt worthless and abandoned and unloved.

He remembered her outburst in front of the Shadow Architect. When she had finally realised how important she was and stood up to her, face on, a gleam in her eyes and power in her voice.

And all this new found confidence she had now lost again... Just like that, faster than she could say “Chameleon Circuit.”

The inside of his TARDIS was infinitely warmer than Hera. The Doctor put his coat off and carelessly threw it over the railing next to his door.

Inside his mind still appeared the same pictures of his former companions. What would they have said to a sunset like this? What would they have said to Gallifrey?

He could almost see their reactions in his mind. Rose's awe, Martha's open fascination, Donna's amazement. The realisation, that there was more in the universe than just the cold cruelty and shallowness that had determined their lives.

The buzzing of the TARDIS tore him out of his thoughts and suddenly the Doctor noticed that he must had been standing in front of the entrance door, unmoving, for several minutes.

“All right,” he threw into the room, for no one to hear but his ship. “I appreciate the gesture, but next time, please give me problems, I'm going mad here.”

The Time Lord started moving, stepped up to the console and pressed some levers. He could still hear Rose's giggling in his head. Could see Martha put her hands on her hip, asking if he didn't want to keep on talking to the TARDIS rather than her. Could hear Donna's voice telling him _“You're not Sherlock Holmes, spaceman!”_

With another sigh, the Doctor rubbed his forehead. Did Donna even _know_ Sherlock Holmes? He hadn't met him with her, had he? No, that must've been someone else. All this being alone seemed to really pull him into madness, now.

He hadn't even pulled the last lever, when the TARDIS already started dematerialising.

“Hey, what are you doing?” he asked softly, looking up to the ceiling. “I haven't even finished yet.”

But the TARDIS didn't take any notice of his words (and why should she?) and instead simply re-materialised in her new destination, known only to her.

A quick glance to the monitor quickly confirmed that this hasn't been _his_ destination – He had chosen another war planet, one that had given the Shadow Proclamation trouble for weeks now. Judoon had been sent to it in multitudes, causing more problems than they were solving.

The TARDIS, however, had brought him straight back to Earth.

“When I said I needed problems...” the Doctor grumbled, “Earth wasn't exactly what I was thinking of. Can't I save it tomorrow? This is a time machine, if you'd just once in my life brought me back here to the time I actually want to be here, I could just...”

But the time machine in question didn't seem remotely interested in what he had to say. Instead of moving again, she let her doors spring wide open and offered him a glance of a blooming, lively London of the 21st century.

“Yeah, alright,” the Doctor growled darkly. “You want me to find a new companion. But I don't want anyone new.”

Almost as if she was trying to show her impatience with him (okay, _exactly_ as if she was trying to show her impatience with him, who was he kidding?), the TARDIS started jerking beneath his feet.

“Really...” he mumbled, getting a little quieter now. “You're enough for me. My... my song is ending, you heard him. I can't do that to anyone new and besides...”

His coat fell to the floor right next to the door.

“Oh, _come on!” _the Doctor called loudly. “You can't be serious!”

But, apparently, his ship didn't allow any protests and so he grabbed his coat with a grim look on his face, dusted it off demonstratively slowly and put it on again.

“Try not to burn to death while I'm gone,” he muttered darkly, but couldn't quite suppress a playful smile.

The only answer he received were the doors falling shut behind him, as soon as he had stepped out onto the Earth.

“Thanks a lot.”

Still, the Doctor felt a little lighter around the hearts, when he made his way over the green grasses of a little Londoner park. As a matter of fact, the sight of London had really started to feel soothingly familiar. It was like a second home and he knew it in all times. Knew the streets and ways, the hiding spots and people.

Every little difference happening here, he caught it immediately, he was sure of that.

And so he walked through the city with feathering steps, hands buried in his pockets, letting his gaze wander over it like a silent guardian.

He hadn't gone far yet, when a few huge cars passed him, seemingly belonging to a filming crew. He could hear their wheels squeaking as they turned around the corner in rapid pace.

With a frown, the Time Lord looked after them. They seemed to go into the direction of where he had parked his TARDIS... or rather: Where his TARDIS had parked him.

He hesitated for only a few seconds, then decided that he better had a look at what was going on. After the events on the Dalek's fleet, he had gotten a bit over-protective when it came to his favourite piece of stolen Time Lord technology. He didn't need another potential TARDIS death to suffer through.

And so he ran back, easily following the smell of burnt rubber on the asphalt. When he stepped up to the car that had parked near his TARDIS, he realised what had been so important that the journalists were in such a hurry to get here.

Right behind the TARDIS lay the wrecked remains of a smoking, crashed spaceship.

Okay, the Doctor thought to himself. _Almost_ every difference.

The space ship was huge, and even though there weren't any flames visible, smoke kept on rising up from it, giving away it's location quite clearly for everyone to see. A grey wing had broken away from the wreckage and was lying right beside his TARDIS. He stepped closer, taking an exploring look.

“Trophlas,” mumbled the Doctor.

People were rushing out of their cars and started building up their cameras and stands.

“Where the hell does this telephone booth come from?” one of them asked.

“That's no phone booth, that thing's blue!” another one gave back with a confused look on his TARDIS.

“Doesn't matter, Jim. Just film around it.”

With a shake of his head, the Doctor turned around, because he could already hear more cars arrive at the scene – And there they were. The first UNIT cars had arrived and a little crowd was forming around the ship.

Apparently, it had crashed rather noisy.

“Wow!” he heard a shrill woman calling. “A real spaceship, can you believe, Simon?”

“So cool!” a young boy called out.

UNIT soldiers were making their way through the crowd now, giving anyone instructions to leave the scene, which were – as could be expected – mostly ignored.

Humans, the Doctor smirked. Always eager for new information they could later happily deny.

He stepped up towards the excitedly filming camera team, picked the man called Jim and whispered into his ear, “And here's the government in their neat little limousines. Might be a good moment to run away with your material before they confiscate it.”

A few suspicious gazes met the Doctor, but after a while, the paparazzi seemed to have come to the conclusion that he was right. Hastily, they packed together their stuff, now and again glancing at the black UNIT cars and the soldiers with their heavy weaponry.

After a while, they managed to get their equipment together and vanished from the scene.

“One less problem,” the Doctor mumbled and smiled at the soldiers walking up to him.

“Doctor!” the officer greeted him, saluting.

The Time Lord took a deep breath, looking away, but when he looked back to the soldier, he still held his hand to his forehead.

“Oh, stop that,” he demanded harshly.

The man smiled and the furrowed, grim face looked much more friendly all at once – More human.

“Thought immediately that this police phone box must be yours. Heard from the crash too, have ya?”

“Oh. Errr... yes. Yes sure. Almost impossible not to, right?”

“Very right,” the soldier confirmed with a nod. “Well, let's familiarise you with the details. This ship crashed mere minutes ago. We couldn't register any signs of living by now, no dangerous cargo or radiation, no...” He interrupted himself. “Doctor, are you even listening?”

Indeed, the Time Lord had let his gaze wonder around a little and given his attention to something – or rather, someone – else. There, in the crowd of curious bystanders stood...

“Oh come on, Cheryl! That's just a bad promo or something. Spaceships, aliens... this stuff isn't real. You sound like my grandfather, just look at you. Let's just go!”

Donna.

“Of course it's real! It's getting more obvious every day! Where did you live in the last few months, hm?”

“I... err...” the redhead suddenly seemed to stumble over her own words. “At home, of course.”

“Doctor!”

“Oh. Yes. Sorry.” the Doctor turned back to the UNIT-officer, giving him a distracted, but apologetic, smile.

Don't talk to her, he reminded himself. Don't talk to her, don't even think about it. If she remembers, her head explodes...

“This is a Trophlas ship. Little water alien, normally not even habitant in our solar system. They must've crashed, but shouldn't be any danger at all. You should help them, rather than pointing your guns at them.”

His dark gaze roamed towards the officer's gun and he seemed to notice the Doctor's displeasure, gave a sheepish smile and lowered his arm a little.

Right in this moment, they heard a loud buzzing coming from the stranded space ship. In lightening speed, the Doctor turned around and could only just see the ship starting a desperate attempt to lift back into the air. A loud bang was audible and the ship seemed to completely fall apart now, as more smoke started to rapidly rise into the atmosphere.

“What the hell is going on over there?” the officer asked. “Something... sprang open.”

The Doctor saw what the soldier meant. A kind of door had opened at the space ship's side – The Trophlas had found a way to open the exit.

“I'll talk to them,” he explained shortly and the officer nodded, so the Doctor started making his way towards them, but a glance over his shoulder told him that he was not alone.

“Wha... Donna?” he asked completely aghast and stopped walking that instant. She had walked straight past the guards to his side, turning back to call to her friend.

“I'll show you, Cheryl! Alien aren't real!”

Her friend, Cheryl, had run after her and gestured her with wild arm movements to come back, but it was pointless – Donna wasn't having any of it.

“What rubbish,” she added, quietly, towards the Doctor. “She really believes in alien...” Donna frowned. “Hey, aren't you that guy... what was the name? Smith?”

The Doctor cleared his suddenly very dry throat and nodded. “John Smith,” he confirmed, his voice unnatural shaky.

“Yes. Hi. I'm Donna. Haven't seen you in a while. I hope my mum didn't scare you away, it's a thing she does... Whatever,” she added and let her gaze roam back to the space ship. The Doctor could see some grey-green silhouettes, climbing into freedom right behind his TARDIS.

“Then let's see how alien these aliens really are! Hey, hey... Martians!”

With a groan, the Doctor followed Donna, who had started running with quick steps towards the Trophlas.

“No, but really...” the Doctor panted, having a sudden strong sense of déjà-vu. “They're not from Mars!”

“That's what I'm _talking_ about!” Donna gave back annoyed. “Do you think I'm that stupid? Cheryl thinks they're alien, not me!”

The first Trophlas had now stepped onto the grass. Their eyes slitted to protect them from the sudden light, but also full of wonder, they stared up at the sun and examined the ground beneath their feet. Despite her unwillingness to believe what she saw, Donna still watched them, stunned for a few seconds.

They didn't have hair, nor noses, their skin was smooth and had the colour of a mix between green and grey. There were gills on their necks and webs between their naked fingers and toes. But they had unmistakable human traits too, their black eyes almost identical to how human eyes looked, and apart from the fact that each of them had four legs, even the bodily proportions were similar.

The Doctor quickly scanned the surroundings with his screwdriver and found that despite its poor state, the space ship was still able to create the right atmosphere conditions for the Trophlas to survive. With a jolt, he grabbed Donna's arm and pulled her back.

“Hey, what are you doing?” she asked energetically and tried to free herself.

“Don't take another step, unless you want to drown on open street,” the Doctor explained sharply. “And, also, _honestly_, there are other planets than Mars out there. Planets known to humans, too. Not all aliens are coming from Mars!”

“Ohh, and you're an alien expert, are you?” Donna gave back with a dismissive roll of her eyes.

The Doctor just sighed.

“Something like that, yeah.”

“Oh God. I'm surrounded by idiots believing in aliens! What's _wrong_ with you?”

“We need help. Help.”

“What?” Donna asked and stared at the Trophlas that had spoken. A little group of them had neared them now, waiting patiently at the atmospheric border. “What did he say?”

The Doctor realised the sounds the Trophlas communicated with must've sounded like running water to Donna and quickly translated.

“He said that he needs help.” He turned towards the Trophlas. “What happened? Why did you crash?”

“Is that supposed to be a joke?” Donna threw in sharply.

“We crashed. Crashed.”

“Yes, I know,” the Doctor replied friendly. “But why? What made you crash?”

“I don't understand a word, what are these guys talking?”

The three Trophlas that had stepped out of their ship looked at Donna in open confusion.

“We collided with a meteor. Collided.”

“A meteor? In this orbit? That's not good. And...”

“What the hell are you talking about? All I hear is 'Blubb blubb!'”

“Donna, dammit. Please be quiet for a minute. Please!”

That seemed to shake up his old friend for a few seconds, she hesitated and the Doctor used her silence to turn back towards the Trophlas.

“That meteor, what's his orbit, is he aiming towards Earth?”

“A meteor falling down on Earth? Are you serious?” Donna sounded openly scared now.

The Doctor gave her a dark glare, trying to shut her up, but instead she crossed her arms and glared back at him.

“Now, listen to me, you _expert_, will you? This is _my_ planet, _my_ home and _my_ life. And if that's going to be ended by a meteor anytime soon, then I would like to be informed about that.”

“Thought you didn't believe in aliens,” the Doctor smiled back at her.

“And don't you think that changed!” she replied fiercely. “Just because there are some grey crumbs standing around here, bubbling!”

“Trophlas,” the Doctor replied quickly. “Their name is Trophlas and they can understand you.”

“What...” Donna wanted to interject, but was interrupted by the aliens.

“Meteor crashes on Earth like ship. Crashes.”

Donna frowned. “And how big is that meteor? Like your ship?”

The three Trophlas stared at her in fresh confusion. “Bigger. Bigger.”

“How much bigger?” the Doctor asked energetically.

“Much bigger. Much.”

“Hey...” Donna threw in, her forehead furrowed in confusion. “I understand what they're saying, how can I...”

“No time!” the Doctor called out and grabbed her arm. Before he started running, he turned around to the Trophlas one last time. “I'm coming back,” he promised in their own language. “And then I'll take you back home.”

Donna right behind him, he ran over the grass back towards the UNIT team. “Meteor in close orbit, threatening to crash onto Earth.” he summarised as short as he managed. “Much bigger than this spaceship. I've been told. Never thought I'd see the day I'd say this, but... get your missiles out, earth people!”

The officer grabbed his radio and started giving his men several instructions. Immediately, hectic movement started and everyone hurried to get their job done.

“Come on, Doctor. You too, Miss Noble!” And within seconds, they sat in a car on the way to the UNIT headquarters.

“What. Why. How?” Donna asked, completely confused.

“Oh, don't worry about that,” the Doctor grinned from the seat next to her. “They're a super secret taskforce fighting against alien threats, I'm sure they know everyone's names.”

“You really _do_ think I am stupid, don't you?” Donna snarled back. “What the hell is going on here and who are you really, Mister?”

“I'm the Doctor, this is UNIT and I'm trying to prevent a huge meteor falling onto your planet, your home and your life and smashing it to pieces. I understood that _is_ what you want, yeah?” he grinned at her widely, unable to stop himself. This was his element, his expertise and having Donna with him again... it just felt too _good_ to be sad any longer.

“Ohh, you think you're so clever, don't you, mate?”

“Pretty clever, yeah.”

“Oho! And arrogant too, I see!”

The Doctor smiled meekly. “I'd call you the same if I didn't know your tough act is just... well... an act.”

Taken aback, Donna simply stared at him.

She was still silent when the car held in front of the headquarters. Together with the officer they entered the building, hurried through the wide, smooth aisles, always right behind the solider leading them, who apparently knew exactly where to go.

Finally, after a few stairs down, they reached a big room full of monitors and highly technical computers.

“Are the missiles ready?” the officer asked the present team members, while taking off his red UNIT cap, wiping off the sweat from his forehead.

“They're ready, Sir!”

“Good. What are the scans saying? Any sign of the meteor yet?”

“Yes, Sir!” one of the scientists called from the console. “We're only waiting for the right position to shoot, now. After my calculations, we should be ready in a bit.”

“Two minutes, twelve seconds!” another scientist called from not far away.

“Start the countdown,” the officer demanded.

“Okay, what's going on here? We're shooting a missile into a meteor?” Donna seemed genuinely confused.

“To steer it away from Earth,” the Doctor explained patiently. “The missile is putting it off course and back into space. Hopefully.”

“So we're... we're not getting smashed by a huge comet?” Donna clarified, seeming more than relieved by this piece of news.

“Of course not,” the UNIT officer replied courtly. “You should know the Doctor better than that by now.”

Immediately, Donna gave the Doctor a sharp look, but the Time Lord couldn't do much more than giving her an apologetic shrug.

“...3...” the monotone computer voice announced in this moment. “...2...”

“Get ready!”

“...1...”

And the missiles were launched.

“That's it,” one of the UNIT staff said after a little while in which they silently watched the screens. “The meteor was successfully hit, we're safe.”

The Doctor hadn't even noticed that Donna next to him had held her breath, before he heard her letting the air out in relief.

“Wonderful. Media won't even know,” replied the officer gleefully.

“But...”

“Could we talk about the Trophlas then?” the Doctor suggested. “I want to take them back in my TARDIS, I'll just need you to...”

“Doctor Smith? Listen...”

“Doctor Who? Doctor Smith?” the Doctor repeated Donna's words with a frown. “No, no, really, no. Either John Smith or the Doctor, please not both in one.”

“Yes, whatever... Listen...”

“You know, my real name's the Doctor. Well, not my real name, but it's close.”

“DOCTOR!” Donna shouted now. “Stop telling me stories about your false name and look at the screen!”

Shocked, the Doctor pulled out his reading glasses, put them on his nose and turned back to the monitors with a serious expression.

“Uh. Yes. Yes, I... yes.” he mumbled. “Yes that's... yes. General?”

He turned back to the UNIT officer. “Donna's right, look at this. The meteor is still steering towards Earth.”

“We need to launch new missiles, quick!” the soldier shouted and immediately turmoil started in the whole room. Everyone, even Donna, had to help to get the missiles into position on time, but in the end, it was done. The meteor had been sent back into space, without any further threat for any planet.

“So... what did you want to suggest earlier?” asked the UNIT general, whose forehead was now covered in sweat, but who still tried to seem like he had everything under control.

The Doctor smiled weakly. “I wanted to suggest that Miss Noble here definitely deserves a medal and that the media should definitely hear about _this_.”

Donna stared at him, her eyes wide. “What... me?”

“Sure,” he replied with a shrug. “Without you, we'd all... been smashed by a huge comet.”

“Oh, that was nothing. I just looked at the monitor and saw...” she frowned. “What _did_ I see?”

“Ohh...” made the Doctor, grabbed her arm and pulled her with her. “That's as if... playing video games! Looks the same in there!” And he gestured towards the screen, where right in this moment complex codes and numbers were running down. “Exactly the same, see?”

He turned back towards the UNIT officer.

“So, thank you for inviting us, good luck in your battle against the meteors, look twice next time, and don't worry about the Trophlas, Donna and I will take care of it. Just let the ruins of their ship disappear and humanity can go straight back to pretending aliens had never existed.”

UNIT did them the favour of bringing them back to the crash scene, and Donna remained utterly quiet during the whole drive, until they got out and shut the doors behind them.

“What... what are we taking care of?” she asked with a quiet voice, while waving the slightly embarrassed UNIT soldier goodbye.

The Doctor sighed. “The bubbling aliens. Come on.”

They ran towards the crashed ship, where the three Trophlas were still waiting for them.

“Hello,” the Doctor greeted them with a little wave. “Sorry to keep you waiting, we had to save Earth. Little pit stop. So, you need to go back to Tropf-En, is that right?”

“Yes. Yes.”

“Okay, come with me then,” the Doctor suggested. “Into my ship. I can bring you back to your home planet, within minutes, you'll be home for tea. Or, eh... whatever you drink. Do you drink? Probably not.” He gave Donna a little smirk. “Water planet.”

“Some fine expert you are,” she gave back with a smile.

The Trophlas consulted with each other for a few seconds with some rushed bubbling, but then seemed to come to the conclusion that they could trust the Doctor and nodded.

“Good,” the Doctor replied with a grin. “Good. Listen. You won't survive long without your atmospheric bubble. I'm sorry, but I have to... well, there really is no other way.”

His glance drifted towards the TARDIS and he started running towards it. “Come on, Donna!”

He came back out with three atmosphere bubbles of the size of a goldfish bowl, filled with water and threw two of them to Donna, keeping his TARDIS door open while heading back to the Trophlas.

“Here. Put them over your heads, so you can breathe outside of your ship's range.”

“Thank you. Thank,” all of the Trophlas replied at the same time. The Doctor smiled while Donna gave the other two their bubbles as well.

He led the aliens into his TARDIS, turning back around to Donna while they were getting inside.

“I'm sorry, I'm so sorry,” he said with quiet tone. “But I think you should go back home. To Cheryl. And explain to her that... that aliens aren't real. Just some promo or something.” He gave her a weak smile.

“But they... are,” gave Donna back, her voice barely louder than a whisper. “I can see that they are.”

“Then remember that.” The Doctor tried his hardest to not carry the emptiness he was feeling inside out to Donna. Give her hope rather than shower her in his loneliness. “Remember what you've learned today. While people keep on denying the existence of life outside of Earth... you know better, Donna Noble.”

She took a deep breath. “Yes,” she finally gave back. “Looks like, for once, I didn't miss everything.”

“You saved the Earth,” the Doctor reminded her. “It won't forget. And... neither will I.”

His voice had broken with the word “forget”. Despite him finally getting the goodbye from his friend that he had hoped for, it felt like his hearts were breaking all over again.

“And I won't forget you either. Showing up here, with your blue box, saying the whole planet and these... blubbering double-drops.”

“Trophlas.”

“Yes, that's what I meant.”

The Doctor pulled her into her arms, holding back a sob as she wrapped her arms around him tightly, clinging to his former companion like a drowning man to a life ring.

“Goodbye, Donna Noble. Live a brilliant life, like you deserve.”

“See ya, Doctor.”

The Doctor was just about to follow the three Trophlas through his TARDIS door, when he heard Donna's voice behind him again.

“Oy, Spaceman!”

He flinched, turning around one last time.

“Don't travel alone. You know it's not good for you.”


End file.
